Sacred Hours

As William Wordsworth wrote quotThe world is too much with us late and soon getting and spending we lay waste our powers amp8230quotA special hour every daySome of the most contented and satisfied individuals regardless of their station in life or the pressures on their time and attention have found a way to create an oasis of stillness and a special sanctuary that helps center and grow them and makes each day meaningful regardless of what the world of commerce and competition might bring in setbacks challenges and pressures They set aside an hour every day for themselves not for their work not for their families not for all those who clamor for it nor to tackle a list of neverending todos which when allowed to will absorb all free timeRather it is an hour earmarked and blocked by them to spend on themselves It might be spent learning reading exercising thinking meditating or walking It is solitary and it is special A sacred hourSome may think of this hour as a selfish hour but is an hour that allows individuals to be effective and productive in all the remaining hours of their day whether it be at their jobs or tending to their family and social obligations truly quotselfishquotFinding seven hours a week for oneselfSurely one cannot be serious that one can find almost a working day of hours for oneself every week While not easy there are a combination of four different tactics that one can utilize to free up much more time than seven hours a week depending on one39s responsibilities and flexibilitiesThe four tactics areZerobased calendaring to eliminate the unnecessaryDelegation to mitigate the pressures of the necessaryReduction of frequencies of meetingsCompression of time allocated to a taskZero based calendaringIn quotA Moveable Feastquot Ernest Hemingway39s love song to the incredible city of Paris he writes quotIf you could keep from making appointments each day had no limitsquotThere is nothing as invigorating as an empty calendar It does not mean that one is not needed but that one has the freedom and liberty to spend the day in the way that is most meaningful versus being shackled to a merrygoround wheel of motion and action that often feigns to be important special and essentialWhat if one begins with an empty calendar wiped clean of all appointments and then transfers only those that you really believe are critical to this new clean calendar Ask your colleagues and bosses how many of the meetings are just habit and are not necessary or could be a memo or held less frequentlyJust like work expands to fill time available appointments occur to fill one39s calendar Start with zero and build back versus trying to trim burstingtotheseams calendars that resemble a barnacleencrusted underside of a shipDelegationThe best leaders run positive quotPonziquot schemes They surround themselves with people better and more competent than them and hand down as many of their responsibilities that they can and encourage them to do the same to the next levelEverybody is stretched and growing and their bosses can stretch and grow to the next level If one is doing too much it may mean that the people around us are not good enough or we are not growing and stretching them and so in time we will lose themWe should delegate and do less Focus on one39s superpowers growing others and thinking about the long termReduction of frequency of meetingsBusiness reality requires budget to status to board meetings for a variety of reasons from the fiduciary to the necessary But can the weekly meeting be moved to twice a month or maybe once a month And does everyone have to attend every meetingIf presence at a meeting is the way a pecking order is established at a company we should wonder if this attracts talent or insecure politicians Less is moreCompression of time allocated to a taskOne of the silver linings of the tragedy of COVID is that one can move from meeting to meeting by moving one39s quotmind partsquot without physically moving one39s quotmeat partsquot This saves a lot of time in travel and other logisticsMost boards now meet once every six months in person while meeting virtually in betweenIn addition to reducing the need for physical presence at all meetings we may also want to consider reducing the time for each meeting by a third or half Prereads and tight management can significantly cut the time allocated without any significant loss in impactPersonally we might shave off a few minutes from our social media usage or Netflix use to enable finding time for our sacred hourHow to make the most of one39s sacred hoursWith a little discipline one can find an hour a day for oneself and often more How one spends it depends on each one of us but blocking out an hour for oneself every day and ideally utilizing it as early as possible before the pressures of the day make one lose control of the best laid plans is idealIf every individual looks after themselves they can do a much better job at their jobs and caring for others because in the end time is all we have and the way we spend our time is the way we spend our lives Living our lives as pinballs in a game where someone else is controlling the flippers may be filled with the excitement of velocity and blinking lights but is it our lifeFor a few sacred hours let39s make it soPhoto at top courtesy of Rishad TobaccowalaClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Rishad Tobaccowala

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